BAY AREA DATELINES

Compiled from Examiner staff and wire reports

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, September 10, 1998

AH: Trial date for priest on embezzling charge San Francisco A March trial date has been set for Monsignor Patrick O'Shea, accused of embezzling more than $250,000 from the Archdiocese of San Francisco, allegations the priest denied.

O'Shea, 65, will be tried in San Francisco Superior Court on 11 felony counts of grand theft and tax evasion for allegedly funneling church funds into personal bank accounts between 1985 and 1994.

O'Shea's attorney, Jim Collins, entered a plea of not guilty on his client's behalf Wednesday before Judge Anne Bouliane.

The former pastor of St. Cecilia's and Holy Names churches is accused of depositing checks from both churches and then transferring them to other accounts for his own personal enrichment.

Earlier this year, a Municipal judge ruled that O'Shea should not have to answer on charges of molesting nine boys between 1964 and 1980, saying that to defy the six-year legal limit on sex abuse charges would be unconstitutional, despite a 1996 state law giving more rights to victims.

The judge's ruling is being appealed to the state Supreme Court, which has not ruled on the new law.

Cops ask Koreans

to aid murder probe Redwood City San Mateo County sheriff's investigators are asking members of the Korean community for help in solving the December murder of San Francisco resident
Richard Kim
.

Detective Jim Tanner said Wednesday that investigators had received a few leads in the case and were looking for more.

"We're pursuing this with a vengeance," Tanner said.

"We're very committed to solving this."

Kim's bloody body was found by bicyclists about 100 yards off Canada Road near Highway 92 in San Mateo County on Dec. 13. He had been shot several times in what Tanner called an assassination-style murder.

"Obviously we don't have a lot of knowledge of their community and environment up there," Tanner said.

"We're looking for help from the people in the community."

Anyone with information is asked to contact Tanner or Det. Doug Steiner at the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office Anonymous Tip Line at 1-800-547-2700.

Long sentences

upheld for athletes San Francisco A federal appeals court reluctantly upheld prison sentences of 95 and nearly 50 years for two former Fresno State football players convicted of a series of armed robberies.